A sense of belonging

For many years now I have been a contractor. This means, while I get up and go to a job on a daily basis, mostly, I’m not a full time employee. I don’t get paid leave, sick or any kind of benefits for turning up at the office each day, each week, each month.

Yes, I get paid heartily, but when I’m unemployed between contracts, which has been nearly a year out of the last three, the cash dwindles very quickly. Agent ask me why I only have contracts on my CV, my response is that a contract never gives you three months notice that it isn’t going to be renewed, so the next contract is the one I take. I’d love a permanent position.

Never more so than now. There are staff movements around the office. Supply Management are moving here, HR are going there. I’m being booted out of the desk I have and I won’t have a permanent home in either Head Office or out West. This disturbs me. One squat to another.

I’ve always had a desk before. Somewhere to keep my teabags, somewhere leave my hand cream and giant mug. Somewhere to lock my laptop so I don’t have to carry it home every night. From Friday I won’t have anywhere. I’ll have to ‘hotdesk’ at all times.

A few years ago I did some sums, around work hours and home hours taking into account travel time as work time etcetera and it looks something like this (i resurrected it and edited for today’s lesson);

Over the course of seven days or 168 hours, you send 62 hours at home awake, and 56 asleep (if you get 8 hours a night). You’re at work 50 hours if you travel one hour each way and do a five day week. This all adds up to:

37% of your week you’re awake at home
33% you’re asleep
30% you’re at work

That’s only 7% less time spent at work than at home, awake, doing things. At home you are surrounded by your stuff. Cups, plates, saucers, food, telly, family, pets, interesting things to do.

At work, with a desk, you can have a small piece of your personal life with you. A family photo, a nice mug instead of the manky grey thing from the cupboard, hand cream and a nice neat pile of files for important work stuff.

No desk, no life. No reminder that you have a life, not even a chair that is set up to the optimum seating position for you. Nowhere to keep the paperwork pertaining to you job, your work planning. Just a empty micro desk and a sore back and hip from carrying the laptop with you for that two hours of travel.

Most companies don’t allow for project contractors when arranging seating or when renting/buying office space, they count FTE (full time employees). I’ve been lucky so far I guess. If I can’t join the Sports and Social Club, can I at least have somewhere to put my box of tissues? If I’m going to spend nearly half my waking life in an office, I need a desk

Let the hunt commence.